Marcus Ellis v. BHA Trinity Grove, LLC

• Court: Texas Court of Appeals, 9th District (Beaumont)
• Decided: May 7, 2026
• Docket: 09-25-00287-CV
• Status: Published

Opinion

In The

Court of Appeals

Ninth District of Texas at Beaumont

__________________

NO. 09-25-00287-CV __________________

MARCUS ELLIS, Appellant

V.

BHA TRINITY GROVE, LLC, Appellee

__________________________________________________________________

On Appeal from the County Court at Law No. 1 Jefferson County, Texas Trial Cause No. 25CCCV0370 __________________________________________________________________

MEMORANDUM OPINION

Pro se Appellant, Marcus Ellis, filed a notice of appeal in this case, along with

a statement of inability to afford costs that he had filed in the trial court. The

Appellee filed an objection in the appeal to the Appellant’s Statement of Inability to

Afford Costs. On August 26, 2025, we entered an Order abating the appeal, and we

remanded the matter to the trial court to determine whether the Appellant should be

required to pay costs and whether Ellis is indigent.

1 After we received a copy of the supplemental record from the trial court

regarding the trial court’s hearing and findings regarding the payment of costs, we

reinstated the appeal on October 28, 2025.

According to the 1st Supplemental record we received from the trial court, the

trial court held a hearing and entered an Order Regarding Costs and Writ of

Possession, dated September 22, 2025, and an Order Sustaining Plaintiff’s Objection

and Granting Plaintiff’s Motion to Challenge Defendant’s Claim of Inability to

Afford Payment of Costs, dated September 23, 2025. Ellis appeared at the

evidentiary hearing regarding Ellis’s alleged inability to afford payment of costs.

The trial court found that Ellis’s Statement of Inability to Afford Payment of Court

Costs was “materially false when made” and that Ellis was obligated to pay court

costs associated with his appeal, and that there is no waiver of his obligation to

timely pay supersedeas security, and the trial court awarded a writ of possession and

execution.

On January 13, 2026, we notified Ellis that the appeal had been reinstated,

that the records for the indigency hearing had been filed in the appeal, and pursuant

to Texas Rule of Civil Procedure 145(g)(2), Friday, October 3, 2025, was the

deadline to file any motion challenging the trial court’s order dated September 23,

2025. We informed Ellis that this Court had not received a motion challenging the

trial court’s ruling and that we will require Appellant to pay costs. We enclosed an

2 invoice for the filing fee, and informed Ellis that his fee was due and owing. On

February 23, 2026, we notified Ellis by letter that his fee had not been paid, and we

informed him that unless the filing fee was paid, the appeal would be dismissed

without further notice pursuant to Texas Rule of Appellate Procedure 42.3(c) on any

date after Tuesday, March 10, 2026. As of this date, Ellis has not paid the filing fee,

nor has he responded to the notices forwarded to him by this Court.

Accordingly, the appeal is dismissed for want of prosecution. See Tex. R.

App. P. 37.3(b), 42.3(b), (c), 43.2(f).

APPEAL DISMISSED.

PER CURIAM

Submitted on May 6, 2026 Opinion Delivered May 7, 2026

Before Golemon, C.J., Johnson and Chambers, JJ.